An interesting letter recently came across my desk. It
was from a state chiropractic organization (mixer) concerning
a lawsuit they were instituting against the State Board of
Physical Therapy (SBPT). It seems the SBPT has sued a
chiropractor for allowing his “personally-trained staff” to
use physical modalities on the patient. The state
organization believes if the SBPT wins their case,
chiropractors will personally have “to perform all therapies,
greatly affecting their case load.” Am I missing something
here? The mixers claim P.T. is part of chiropractic. In the
state of Pennsylvania you must be licensed to practice
chiropractic. Further, you must have special training over
and above your education and license to do P.T. (I am not
qualified to do it, despite a chiropractic education and
almost 28 years in practice). Yet, they believe it is
alright for “personally-trained staff” to do these
procedures!
Either P.T. is an innocuous procedure like putting a
patient down on an adjusting table and should not be charged
for, or it is a professional procedure and should be done by
a professional. Should physical therapists be able to
supervise their staff doing these procedures? Should
straight chiropractors be able to supervise their staff
giving adjustments? It is ludicrous to think that anybody
but chiropractors should be doing the procedures. Aside from
the possible atrocities that can and do occur. (There is a
D.C. in my area who goes on vacation and patients still come
in the office to get their 5 or 6 modality treatments and
have the insurance company charged $150.) If P.T. is a
professional service that takes formal training, it should
not be performed by some high school student working a part-
time job. Here’s the kicker. The letter was asking me for a
donation to help support the mixer’s case. Now where did I
put my checkbook? v12n1